The Police have issued a wanted bulletin for 33-year-old Keziah Jeuel Roberts for questioning in relation to obtaining monies from several Guyanese while allegedly operating a pyramid scheme.
Wanted: Keziah Jeuel Roberts
Police stated that Roberts would have collected the money between September 2020 and February 2021.
In December 2020, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) said it has received reports of more than a dozen pyramid schemes operating here, defrauding Guyanese of their hard-earned cash.
Director of the FIU, Matthew Langevine has said these organisations are operating different types of unauthorised and unlicensed financial activities, intended to defraud persons.
Langevine said some of the proposals offered by the operations “are not practicable, not reasonable, and we believe that it is all in an effort to scam individuals of their hard-earned currency.”
He added that the FIU has been actively involved in supporting all the different investigations.
The Attorney General’s Chambers have been actively pursuing justice for thousands of Guyanese, who were caught up in a local Ponzi scheme operated by the Accelerated Capital Firm Incorporated (ACFI).
Government, in August, received thousands of complaints from citizens after they were cheated out of their savings. A Police investigation saw the operator and his wife arrested and charged with over 30 counts of fraud.
Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall recently said the Government would be strengthening laws to address investment fraud, as the lack of this legislation has affected the prosecution of the largest Ponzi scheme operators in the country.
Meanwhile, Langevine said the FIU has also noted the use of social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook by persons to scam others.
“Because of the pandemic, I think persons are more inclined to be at home and using those forms of platforms, and so criminals have been seeing that as an opportunity to (reach out), and have been reaching out to individuals and have been orchestrating all kinds of financial scams,” he said.
The FIU has been collaborating with institutions regionally and internationally to effectively deal with the threats that are surfacing, he said.
Meanwhile, anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of Roberts is asked to contact the Police on telephone numbers 225-3079, 225-3085, 268-2328, 911 or the nearest Police station.
